Dulce Bellum Inexpertis
by America'sFirstRebel
Summary: The year is 1941 and the threat of an invasion of Britain by Nazi Germany is very real and Eva, alone, is put onto a plane to safety - or so she thinks. With her on the plane are a range of boys and girls - all schoolchildren. But in yet another horrible twist in Eva's life, the plane crashes onto an Island. She soon learns that the first casualty of war is innocence.


Hey :-) Thank you for checking out my story—my first attempt at a fanfiction! I've worked hard on this, and have done lots of research to make it right, so hopefully it'll hold your attention. So please, let me know what you think. :-)

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"_War does not determine who is right, war determines who is left."_

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Chapter One

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Eva felt the rumble before she heard the siren. She forced her eyes open.

The ground shook, the walls shuddered and some dust trickled down over her bed. And then the warning siren rang out throughout the city of London. Grabbing her duvet, she threw it onto the floor, grabbed a pair of shoes waiting for her by the bed, grabbed her coat from the back of the door and ran into the hallway.

"JAMES!" she screamed as she felt a bomb impact with the ground. She almost lost her balance, and grabbed the banister for support. "MUM!"

Almost out of nowhere, her brother James grabbed her and together they flew down the stairs. Their house, a big one to show off her parents wealth, shook as if it were scared too. Eva yelled out as shelves came tumbling down, antiques smashing all over the floor; her brother James took a blow to the head and Eva winced at the sight of his blood as it trickled down his face.

"Are you okay James?" she asked breathlessly, as they stopped for a moment.

He nodded. "Come on, we need to get to the back garden and into the shelter—"

"What are you standing there for?" screamed a voice from the top of the stairs. It was their mother. "Go, kids!"

Before she could say or do anymore, a bomb exploded near their house and the impact destroyed the front of their home. Eva screamed as they were completely blown backwards. Eva and James collided with a wall and crumpled to the floor. She gingerly touched her head and felt blood; her vision was blurred, but she felt James touch her hand. Her heart fluttered with relief.

All she could hear for a moment was the crashing and the banging noises as her house was torn apart, but James was helping her to her feet. Her legs wobbled but the sight in front of her was more horrifying.

"NO!" Eva cried, staring at the body of her mother. Her fine nightgown was shredded and her mangled body was trapped beneath a large part of what was the ceiling.

"Come on Eva," muttered her brother. "We have to get out of here."

Eva looked up at her brother's bloodied and bruised face and saw tears in his eyes. _I can't believe this is happening._ She took James' hand and together they ran through the house, through the kitchen and out into the back garden, all the while dust, debris, glass falling down on them as the rumbles got louder and louder—

James wrenched the door of the Anderson Shelter open and almost threw Eva inside, throwing himself in and shutting the door; he blocked out the flashing sky. Eva heard the loudest bomb yet and realised that this one had hit her house. Her _home_. Everything they owned destroyed in one second.

James rubbed his eyes and scrunched them to see Eva. The shelter was dark and damp and did not keep the noise of the bombing out. Eva was shaking on the makeshift bed, a sign she was crying. James crawled over to her, and held her close.

A few hours later, the noise finally stopped. Eva removed her hands from her ears and sighed in exhaustion and grief. She was tired, emotionally and physically. She was covered in cuts and bruises and her head ached. She longed for her mother to comfort them; she was gone. Eva looked to the side of the little bed and saw the black and white photo of her father in his uniform. He was a Captain in the army, and fighting the Germans in who knows where. If he was even still alive.

And tomorrow—or today, as it was the early hours of the morning now—James was being conscripted into the army. Her mother and James taken from her in the space of just a few hours? Who would look after her? Where would she go? Would her father know of the situation?

"Please don't go tomorrow James," Eva whispered, tearing up once more. "I'll be on my own."

"I have to, Eva," he said solemnly back in the darkness as they cuddled on the tiny bed. "It wasn't quite the eighteenth birthday present I wanted..."

"You could say you're a Humanist, or a Conscientious Objector, or _anything_ just...please, _stay_."

"I'm not a coward Eva," he told her sternly. He then sighed. "I'll explain my situation in the morning when the Officers pick me up and see what they say...I can't promise anything. But, look at me Eva, I _promise_ you that I'll make sure you're safe and settled before I go anywhere."

She smiled. "Thank you Jamie."

"You haven't called me that since you were little," he chuckled.

Eva shrugged. "Shall we go outside? Is it safe yet?"

"Well, it's quiet now. But we'll wait for the morning."

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Hours later, Eva sat on the ruins of what was her home. She was holding a doll that had somehow made it, a childhood favourite. The sunlight almost made it seem impossible that the night time bought with it bombings and other such horrors. With another rummage around the rubble, Eva finally found what she was _really_ looking for—the necklace from her parents for her thirteenth birthday two years ago. It had a little rose charm on the end of it. She put it on and clasped it tight in her hand.

They took her mother away that morning too. In a body bag.

Looking around, she saw the other neighbourhood children playing in the rubble. Addison Avenue was completely destroyed. What stood magnificent houses and nice cars was now nothing but dust and dirt. The other children didn't look too badly injured, but the little boy called Tom across from Eva's house was now orphaned. His father was a rich banker, too.

She felt the back of her head, which still pained her. Her wound had been treated by some medical volunteers who were doing the rounds of the victims of the latest bombings. It was April 1941 now, and they had, before now, survived the bombings since September of last year. Across the way, her brother James was talking to an Officer by an army truck which was parked down the road. They had come to take him away, to serve in the Patriotic War—_maybe James will even be in father's Company. They sometimes put family and friends together._

She even missed school. Headington School in Oxford, where she had been boarding frequently since she was five years old. It was bombed and heavily damaged a few weeks ago, and Eva has received some home tutoring on the wishes of her parents.

James then returned from talking with the Officer. He looked glum, so Eva prepared for bad news.

He sighed and sat on some rubble next to Eva. "Listen, I'm allowed to stay with you for a couple more days. We'll stay in a little place in the countryside until—" He paused.

"Until what?" Eva demanded.

"It is, apparently, the will of our parents that if either one of us was left on our own (before I turned eighteen, that is) that we were to be flown to America, to live with our relatives. And that's where it is decided you will stay, until either me or father returns."

"What?" Eva asked, her voice trembling. "No, no, I can't go to America! I want to stay here! And what if you and father don't come back? We've all heard stories from the Great War – what are the chances of you coming back alive?" She held her face in her hands.

_My mother is dead. My father and my brother may as well be too. My home is gone. And now I'm going to live in a foreign country. Why is this happening to me?_

"I hate this!" She cried, standing up and kicking the stones around her. "I hate the War! I hate the Germans! I hate..." She began to cry and wrapped her arms around her brother for comfort.

He kissed her forehead. "Come on, let's go and see if we can save anything from all this rubble."

Eva sighed, clutched her necklace and her childhood doll and searched around for more of her belongings. None of her fine clothes were able to be saved, but some more personal possessions survived. Even some of her mother and father's things, too.

The day was spent sorting out the destroyed street with their neighbours, with the police, the army, social workers, paperwork, more paperwork, searching through the rubble, comforting little children who are now orphans...it seemed that everyone on Addison Avenue was preparing for a new life.

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A little over a week later, Eva was on the plane that was taking her to America. James was away now, preparing to fight. Her father was fighting. Her mother was dead and their home was destroyed by the bombs. Most nights since, Eva cried herself to sleep, and in her dreams she saw her mother, dead. Her body mangled. She saw her brother and her father return home in coffins. Her dreams at night were now nightmares.

The necklace still hung around her neck, and it was of great comfort. Her main luggage, for whatever reason, was already in America, sent forward on some sort of cargo plane. She had to buy new clothes for her trip—it was a good thing her family was well off. She couldn't even imagine what the poor were going through.

She had lived with James in a countryside cottage before now, and it was a nice change from the busy streets of London and the dirty air. The country children were a little batty, though, but nice enough. And there were farm animals which Eva had only ever seen a couple of times before.

Eva looked around the plane, and saw only school children, some her age; most of them were younger. Everybody was wearing their uniforms as they were registered with their schools as part of the evacuation process. Eva absent-mindedly fiddled with her tie as she scanned for any familiar faces amongst the girls of the group. But she saw nobody else wearing the Headington School uniform.

Sighing and leaning back in her seat, the plane's engine roared to life. Eva had been on a plane before to go on family holidays to places like France—well, that won't be happening anymore, now that France had fallen to the Germans. Due to the War and the nature of the Nazis, Eva was really losing her faith in mankind—_we're all savages._

As the plane rose into the air, and some excited first-timers squealed in excitement, Eva relaxed momentarily as they soared higher and higher, and eventually over the sea. She'll have to handle her new life, just like everybody else. Stop with the crying, the nightmares and get through it.

She gripped her hand rest as she thought of her future—of her new life. America was not part of the War. Yet, anyway. Perhaps life will be better.

But then suddenly—well, it all happened very fast. First, alarms blared throughout the cabin, lights flashed and Eva couldn't breathe. And then the weather outside poured in and Eva, who still had her seatbelt on, felt a force trying to throw her upwards and out of the plane.

It was all happening too fast and Eva couldn't gather her thoughts or fathom what was going on as the plane swerved this way and that; the noises the rest of the passengers were making were even worse. But then the plane hit land and Eva was thrown from her seat. She scrambled from the plane, clambering over the wing and landing on what seemed like grass—but it was dark and she couldn't tell.

People were screaming. Eva was too, though she wasn't aware of it. Other children were scattered around her, running, crying. She heard the storm whip the plane from its landing strip and drag it away. Some kids were trapped inside it. She didn't know where they had landed, where the remains of the plane had gone, what everybody else was doing.

But the rain was beating down hard, the wind slapped her face and the trees swayed dangerously.

And so Eva ran. To find cover until darkness turned into light.

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Author's Note:

The title is Latin for _war is sweet to those who have never experienced it_.

Well, how was it? I know there are girls in this version, but hopefully I'll do William Golding justice. I've read the book lots of times and I've seen the 1963 film version, so the Ralph, Jack, etc in my head are based on their appearances in that.

I couldn't find a way of describing Eva's appearance in this chapter without randomly adding it in, so here it is: she is a brunette with blue eyes, sporting a popular 1940's hairdo, the "peek-a-boo bang", which Eva had done after seeing Veronica Lake in the film _I Wanted Wings_.

As you read, there are a mixture of boys and girls, and some other OCs which I shall introduce in the next chapter. Romance in the works? Most likely, but it won't be _too_ annoying, cliché and in your face. Hopefully. I'm working hard on it! It is set during World War Two of course, starting in April 1941. It's an adventure story of course, with drama, some horror, friendship and a little romance (realistically speaking).

Oh, and for those who are unsure-Eva's father is a Captain in the British Armed Forces and in charge of a "Company" of men, various Platoons, which is what she was referring to. I hope I didn't drag the first part out to much, I shortened the plane crash from my original version!

And (do we really need to do this?) of course Lord of the Flies belongs to Sir William Golding. So leave a review or send me a message and let me know what you think – I would love to read some feedback! Also, check out my profile for future updates and info on my story.

Lauren.


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